Society: 50/75 of 878

There is more to sustainable transport than cutting emissions, writes Nicola Spurling - like reducing car dependence, cutting congestion, and reducing the need for travel. The Tesla Model S is a wonder of engineering, but does little to address the real challenges.more...

At last year's climate talks in Warsaw the corporate fossil fuel lobby was firmly in charge - and the result was catastrophic failure. At the talks now under way in Bonn, it's our turn to set the agenda - the billions of people crying out for positive action on climate and energy.more...

Humanity has always lived under the threat of extinction, writes Anders Sandberg. Now we have reduced some of the dangers - but created new ones of our own. And right now, it's the anthropogenic threats that look the scariest ...more...

A unique community purchase of Forestry Commission land in the Highlands will see native Caledonian pinewoods re-established over 1086 hectares of commercial conifer woods planted in the 1970s, complete with relict ancient pines.more...

Under its minority Green administration, Brighton & Hove is an exemplar of progressive politics that is realising huge social, economic and environmental gains, writes Rob Shepherd. Maybe that's why political opponents are so desperate to brand it a failure ...more...

Scientists know that if Antarctica's ice sheets and glaciers collapse, sea levels could rise 5 metres. But the idea that it will take 200 years to happen is based on a linear model, writes Dady Cherry. In fact, the process is exponential - and could take place 'within decades'.more...

Children are an indicator species for the health of our communities, writes Melissa Henry - and they are being forced off our streets by traffic. This adds further to traffic and pollution as children are driven everywhere, depriving them of exercise. It's time to break the vicious circle!more...

The New Sylva is a worthy successor to John Evelyn's original of 1644, writes Colin Tudge, with superb line drawings and a text that looks more to the future of Britain's trees, than their past. A book for ladies, gentlemen, 'meer woodsmen' and 'ordinary rusticks' alike.more...

Former Shell oil boss Mark Moody Stuart's ableptic, self-satisfied book on 'responsible leadership' left Danny Chivers seething. The sooner we stop caring about the opinions of the Moody-Stuarts of this world, he concludes, the sooner we're likely to improve it.more...

The growth of food banks reflects a simple truth: the government does not care about hungry families, writes Rupert Read. To tackle hunger, work must pay a living wage, social security must do its job, and communities must rebuild local food networks.more...

In the industrial era, economic growth has become equated with human progress, writes Jules Pretty, with a fundamental assumption that material growth and consumption inevitably leads to improvements in our well-being. Now think again ...more...

Society: 50/75 of 878

Our economies and our jobs depend on mass consumption, argues Oliver Williams. If we all consume less to save the planet, the economy will tank and millions will lose their jobs. The answer is not frugality, but reductions in population.more...

Australia's poorer communities, with lower employment and education levels, and those with a high proportion of Indigenous people, are significantly more likely to suffer high levels of toxic air pollution. Children are at particular risk from rising levels of lead.more...

The issues surrounding powerful new technologies from GMOs to nuclear power appear disparate, writes David King - but look harder and most are linked by common threads. Key among them are issues of profit, control and socialisation of cost ...more...

For today's tourists and travellers the elephant in the room is the jumbo jet which whisks us to our destinations - but pollutes the air, promotes destructive development, and isolates us from the the real world. Rose Bridger reviews 'Beyond Flying'.more...

Green growth is a myth, writes André Reichel, because it ignores the social, political and personal dimensions of sustainability. Instead we must plan for economic 'de-growth' - and go for growth only in the areas that really matter, like culture, learning and joy.more...

A Bushman from the Central Kalahari travelled 5,000 miles from his home in Botswana today to tell the Prince of Wales, ‘We're not poachers - we hunt to survive. Persuade Botswana to change its policies, or the Bushmen will soon be finished.'more...

Those caught up in nuclear disasters suffer many times over, writes Robert Jacobs. Ill-health and early death aside, they are also cut off from their former communities, identities and family life, and the victims of social and medical discrimination.more...

Police violence has been a running theme in the anti-fracking protests at Barton Moss. Individual officers are acting with impunity. Is this a deliberate strategy to disrupt the protests on behalf of vested interests? David Cullen investigates ...more...

Cancer Research UK's slogan is 'Let's beat cancer sooner'. But Georgina Downs wonders why it ignores the role of pesticides sprayed on crop fields - which is a recognised cause of cancer - and why it has spent over £750 million since 2007 on paying its employees.more...

Had enough of being a 'good environmental liberal' - trying to do the right thing while the world gets ever worse? Adam Herriott argues for a Deep Green Resistance that attacks the power structures that perpetrate environmental destruction.more...

Australia is still stealing Aboriginal children from their families, reports John Pilger. The 'lost generation' policies were meant to have ended in 1969, but a new wave of child thefts is under way - 2013 figures show that 13,914 Aboriginal children were in 'out of home care'.more...

Nigel Farage's media triumph last night highlights Ofcom's decision that UKIP is a 'major political party' in the Euro-Elections. But Ofcom's view, argue Matt Hawkins & Clare Phipps, rests on the myth that the media reflect, rather than influence, public opinion.more...